Shooting Stars

Shooting Stars is like a lion stalking a meal in the Serengeti. At least that is my perspective after being asked to get some photos of Tommy Lee Jones and Meryl Streep in quiet little Stonington last week while on location filming the movie "Great Hope Springs".

Courant staff reporter Julie Stagis and I headed down to Stonington with no real idea as to what we would find to shoot or write about. Contact with the production crew was less than helpful, "Sorry we can't tell you where or when we will be shooting scenes today". But it wasn't hard to find the area being used as Police had closed off part of Water Street and a small gathering of fans began to line the streets around Canon Square. As the crew prepared the set, watering the street, spreading leaves and checking equipment we were told we would need to move down the street so we would not be in the shot. My first frames of Tommy Lee were of his back.

Fortunately, after he walked his route he needed to go back and run the scene again which allowed me a "full frontal" of him. This time walking down the street on a little different angle, he did three takes with extras walking here and there along the streets. But as he got ready to shoot the next take we were kindly asked to "moved down to the next orange cone along the sidewalk. Now we were about 100 feet from that cozy little corner we all gathered on. Finally, when they asked us to move one more time, I decided it was time to look for a different angle.

After shooting the first scene, Jones and director David Frankel reviewed the takes on an iPad under the tent. They must have liked one of the takes because now they began to get ready for the next segment. You do a lot of standing around at these events. Between wardrobe changes, lighting adjustment, stand-ins rehearsing the next scene before the stars come out, it can be discouraging.

But when the stars finally make their appearance together the crowd lights up as Valerie Riley of Mystic points out Streep and Jones to Lorraine Twardowski of Wilmington, Delaware. Riley had been near the set a couple times already that week but Twardowski and seven friends were on their way to Newport for the weekend to celebrate the groups 25th year having a girls weekend.

We were allowed to stand fairly close for this scene but kept under the watchful eye of crew members and told to back it up if we passed a sign hanging at an Inn.

You see some strange contraptions on a movie set as machinery moved along Water Street with lighting gear attached to a lift. After three weeks of filming the crew were starting to put some of the storefronts back to their original look.

Most of the locals in downtown have mostly enjoyed the spectacle that descended on the town but they were also looking forward to the slow and steady pace they're used too.

Pro Tip: Shooting film sets can be frustrating but also rewarding. If all you're looking for are the up close photos of the actors than you can pretty much forget about it. The movie PR people will keep as short a leash on you as possible. I even heard that someone was booted out of a room on the second floor in the Inn across the street from the filming because they would be a distraction to the actors. I could have brought a longer lens than the 300/4 I used but I did not want to be mistaken for a "Paparazzi". Most of the shots were taken with the 300, a 70-200 and 17-55. For the paper and web we try to give a variety of photos that describe the experience for those that didn't visited the set first hand. Listen to your instincts and work the best angles you can find, not just the areas they try to pen you into.